The present invention relates generally to telecommunications systems and methods for conference calling in a cellular network, and specifically to defining network-based conference call groups accessible to mobile subscribers.
The use of Citizen""s Band (CB) radio has become ubiquitous since it became popularized in the 1970s. While it is most commonly associated with truckers, its attraction is more widespread because it has become known as a medium for xe2x80x9ccommunities of interest.xe2x80x9d Many people have compared CB to a party line on the air.
The radio technology for CB radio is basically push-to-talk,xe2x80x9d with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations on power output. However, these FCC power-regulations are often ignored by CB aficionados. It is a trivial matter to connect power amplifiers to a CB radio and effectively xe2x80x9cjamxe2x80x9d others from the channel, although this practice violates FCC regulations.
In addition, since there are only a limited number of frequencies reserved for CB radio, the xe2x80x9ccommunities of interestxe2x80x9d may outnumber the number of available frequencies. Thus, different topics of discussion may be present on each CB radio frequency, with only part of the listening group interested in each topic. This may produce competition for air time, and discord among CB users.
Yet another problem with CB radio is that while some content may be illegal or objectionable, it is not practical to police the conversations or individuals making the objectionable comments. Therefore, some of the CB frequencies have become unusable for certain individuals, such as traveling families. The result is akin to an unmoderated news group on the Internet, full of profanity and xe2x80x9cspam.xe2x80x9d
Finally, with the advent of cellular telecommunications, which is one of the fastest growing and most demanding telecommunications applications in the world today, many normal CB users have begun to subscribe to cellular service. However, those mobile subscribers that participate in CB-radio must carry a CB radio, in addition to their mobile telephone. In addition, the cellular network operators cannot capitalize on the CB market. Furthermore, there is no real alternative to CB radio today in the cellular world.
The present invention is directed to telecommunications systems and methods for creating xe2x80x9cvirtual CB radio channel groupsxe2x80x9d within a cellular network. In a first embodiment, the virtual channel groups are built within the Mobile Switching Center (MSC). Each mobile subscriber participant is associated with the other mobile subscriber participants in the MSC, using a transaction identifier and conference bridges. A group is established based on individual preferences stored in the cellular network or provided to the cellular network by the individual mobile subscribers. Each group can be monitored, and each individual participants communication link can be controlled independently to facilitate individual disconnection. In a second embodiment, the virtual channel groups are built directly over the air. In this embodiment, participating mobile subscribers within range of each other can communicate directly with one another, using the same forward and reverse traffic channels. Although these traffic channels are allocated and controlled by the base station, they are not actually received or transmitted by the base station. Thus, with this embodiment, monitoring of communications would not be feasible.